In an industry that often tends to find little consensus and rarely moves forward with new ideas at great speed, it seems, to some, that the acceptance of synthetic racing surfaces has been surprisingly swift.
Robert N. Elliston
Pres/CEO, Turfway Park
Q: Is the Industry moving too fast?
A: I really don’t think the industry is moving too fast. Synthetic surfaces have performed exceptionally well in the UK for many years, both for training purposes and racing. Concussion studies have been performed by noted scientists Mick Peterson and Sue Stover, scientifically demonstrating the benefits to horses performing on the surface. And the experiences in Kentucky, training and racing at Turfway Park and Keeneland have been excellent.
The obvious benefits have been demonstrated by a significant reduction in catastrophic breakdowns. In the year prior to Polytrack, we had 24 catastrophic breakdowns during racing. In the year and a half since, we have had 10. That is a big decrease over a longer period of time. Additionally, horsemen tell us that they find their training schedules are much more predictable on the Polytrack surface, versus repeatedly canceling training or racing due to racetrack conditions. Finally, I believe the handicapper is benefited because racing is conducted without a demonstrable bias that compromises a horse’s chances of winning based on running style.
Q: Are the problems faced at Turfway, Woodbine and Hollywood simply a matter of "tweaking" or an indication that things should slow down?
A: I would not speak for Woodbine or Hollywood, but I can tell you that our experience at Turfway Park has been exceptional. While we lost 5 complete cards, and two partial cards this winter, only one, a partial card, was the result of the surface. We have had an extremely difficult winter in Northern Kentucky. For a three week period, the temperature never rose above 25 degrees, and fell below 0 degrees nearly every night. At the end of that stretch, when the temperature actually rose above freezing, it would coupled with 2 inches of rain, 1 inch of ice, and two inches of snow! Then the temperature dropped from 38 degrees to 0 degrees in a three hour timeframe. Since the weather has moderated, the surface has rebounded very quickly. A conventional surface having been exposed to these elements would be a sloppy mess, inconsistent from frontstretch to turn, and from inside to outside.
The surface does require maintenance. Further, the form of the maintenance changes as the weather impacts the surface. We continue to learn how best to preserve a safe, consistent racing surface despite the changes in the weather. Having said that, I would struggle to believe any surface could withstand the extremes discussed earlier, yet the Turfway Park surface appears perfect coming out of those extremes.
Q: Overall, has the US racing experience on synthetic surfaces thus far been positive, negative, or neutral?
A: For Turfway Park, the experience has been overwhelmingly positive. By any measure, breakdowns, increased field size, handle, reduced maintenance, we have exceed our expectations in every category. As the first, we understand that our experience will be scrutinized because of its potential impact on other racing jurisdictions. We take that responsibility seriously, and do our best to communicate all of our findings- positive and negative. These experiences will inevitably lead to improvements in the material content, and the methods to maintain the surfaces.
This national dialogue on synthetic surfaces is just a part of a bigger dialogue on safety of our sport. As a long time fan of the sport, and now a member of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association Board of Directors, I personally am proud that our sport has elevated that dialogue. The solutions that arise from this dialogue must withstand the challenges that will no doubt face us. Long after I have left Turfway Park, I believe the advancements made today to improve safety for horses and their riders will be a source of pride for all us.
Robert N. Elliston... President & CEO of Turfway Park, in Florence, Kentucky --the first track in North America to run on Polytrack.
Charles 'Chuck' Simon
Trainer
Synthetic tracks are one of the biggest changes to our industry in some time. By changing the actual surface away from a traditional dirt track to a synthetic track we are fundamentally altering our sport. As with any drastic change naturally there are some waves but in the end I believe that the change will be a positive one.
I have had a stable of horses at Turfway Park since they installed the Polytrack surface. Truthfully, Polytrack was the main reason that I moved horses there because there was little chance that I would ever have stabled at Turfway if it meant training on the old surface. My stable has had a good deal of luck in regard to soundness on Polytrack with few injuries, none of them major.
I know that there have been some problems recently with the surface but in extreme temperatures you will have a problem with any surface. Personally I believe that the problems at Turfway are due to a lack of moisture in the surface. In England where moisture is rarely a problem, Polytrack has been a huge success. When it's 6 degrees, Polytrack may not freeze but water sure will. Also we are putting a lot of pressure on the track supers as they are learning about the surface and its nuances under a microscope. Though it is a hot topic now, my feeling is that when all is said and done artificial surfaces will wind up as a non issue.
Charles 'Chuck' Simon... Conditioned the talented sprinter Battle Won. Chuck is racing strings this winter at Fair Grounds and Turfway. He also started horses last fall over Keeneland's Polytrack surface.
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Maryjean Wall
Lexington Herald-Leader
The numbers at Keeneland spoke better than any article could about the advisability of Polytrack: only one breakdown, in the final race of the fall meet. That said, the number of breakdowns at Turfway since December, something like 20 during training and racing, raised some interesting questions about Polytrack.
Despite this, I am convinced that Turfway has been correct in stating that the track mixture changes with the weather -- and that maintenance is an on-going learning project. Moreover, Turfway has listened and paid attention to horsemen’s and jockeys’ concerns.
Are race courses switching too quickly to synthetic surfaces, without waiting to see what happens at Turfway and Keeneland? The answer is, what choice do they have? Breakdowns do not do race tracks or the sport any good. Breeders are not going to change what they put on the market. Our style of racing is not going to change. The medication problem isn’t going away. This is why race courses and training centers have moved quickly to install synthetic surfaces.
These surfaces appear to be the best means -- perhaps the only means -- we have to address the breakdown problem. Perhaps, what appears to be a quick fix now will prove greatly helpful to the breed in the long run. The synthetic surfaces will bring a variety of new bloodlines into vogue. An infusion of new blood might help make the thoroughbred stronger over the next few generations. Certainly, nothing else has.
Maryjean Wall... Horse racing beat writer for the Lexington Herald-Leader.
Emily Daignault
Exercise rider [Tapeta surface at Fair Hill]
- Is the industry moving too fast?
I think that way back in 1967, Mr. King Whitney Jr said it best,
"Change has a considerable psychological impact on the human mind. To the
fearful it is threatening because it means that things may get worse. To the
hopeful it is encouraging because things may get better. To the confident it
is inspiring because the challenge exists to make things better."
Mr. Whitney's statement holds true then in the world of big business and it
also applies today to the state of the racing industry.
All changes can be
worrisome and spectacular, usually concurrently. In this case, I believe
that the industry acted on a expedited timeframe in the face or more and
more status quo's not making the grade.
Was it too fast? Well that's not
something that I think we can accurately perceive here in the present.
Surely there are many people who will fall to both sides of this issue, and
both sides will believe they are the correct ones. I feel that the
importance of this change is being lost at the moment with those who are so
vehemently pro or con that they fail to see the truest significance here;
the racing world tried to improve the safety for horses and riders. Fast or
not, people involved jointly said, "Hey we don't want to lose anymore lives
and we're willing to step into totally uncharted land to try to stop the
rapid losses that we as a community have faced." It's this sense of
unification that impressed me most.
- Are the problems faced at Turfway, Woodbine, and Hollywood simply a
matter of needing a "tweaking" or...?
I recall my father telling me, with great passion, about the time when the
NFL switched over to allow Astroturf. It was a big deal (especially to him)
and interestingly I think there is a true tangent here. As soon as Astroturf
was in, problems came up. The players weren't used to it. Their legs,
tendons, ligaments etc weren't used to how it felt to stop running and turn
on it. Injuries abounded. People yelled to abolish it, it was unsafe. Grass
was touted as the only way to have a decent game. OK now jump forward to
modern day, and over 30 years of improvements and the artificial fields are
playing about equally as the natural grass.
Just as the Astroturf developers needed time to "tweak" their surface to
remedy the issues that popped up, so too do the creators of the synthetic
tracks need the time, and our patience to improve the tracks to the point of
playing ideally for all. And like the artificial ball fields, we will likely
see a constant improvement of the surfaces. Technology is always changing.
- To the horsemen on the panel: How has you first-hand experience been with
synthetic surfaces in regards to your horses?
I gallop approximately 4 horses a day on the Taepta surface at Fair Hill,
and everything I feel about it is positive. Well almost everything, I
suggest very strongly to others in my profession to not fall off on a Tapeta
track! It's very painful on the old backside!
As far as the horses, I
think they are liking it a great deal. We had one mare that was a bit
disinclined to walk happily to the track daily. However once she galloped 3 weeks straight on the synthetic she
would prance out of the barn and drag me to the Tapeta. God forbid I made
her go to the dirt, but she had her entire personality change once she
experienced the Tapeta.
As far as the track itself, it handles the weather incredibly. Now having
said this we were just sideswiped by a very bad ice storm, and that nemesis
was a bit too much for the track, closing it for multiple days, but come on,
how many tracks are you gonna see survive 3" of ice?! I have galloped in
a downpour, when usually we would be relegated to the shedrows. And yes it
needed time to allow the wax to distribute out, but once it 'settled' the
surface has been nothing short of amazing.
- Overall, has the US racing experience on synthetic surfaces thus far been
positive, negative, or neutral?
I would again answer this with the idea that we'll know more in the future.
It's very hard to be truly objective as we are at the start of our time
with synthetics. I would have as much trouble predicting the success of a
class of college freshmen, by judging all those students after their first
complete year. It's all up to time and to the individuals.
The track
maintenance crews play a big part here also. The weather factors in and of
course, the state budgets or private funding that help decide how well a
track can maintain their surfaces. For right now I'd say we're doing good.
Could we improve, sure, could we hit a setback, sure. But for walking into
an unknown land, I'd say we've found the water and the shelter, but who
knows if we'll be able to develop a civilization.
Emily Daignault... A lifelong rider, Emily started riding racehorses in 1992. She's ridden stakes winners such as Scrappy T and Maxzene. Currently
working for Doug Fout as an exercise rider. Emily is also a licensed asst trainer and a
NSA licensed trainer and has trained her own point to point horse the last two
years.
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Roger Stein
SoCal-based trainer
Host, The Roger Stein Show
I began training thoroughbred racehorses in 1987, after 10 successful years in the standardbred industry. I can honestly say, after 30 years in the horse business, I have never seen an industry-wide movement such as the one surrounding track surfaces. It really made me wonder if it was me who could no longer could consider himself "in the loop".
What was so wrong with nature's surfaces? After more than 100 years of horseracing, the people who make the decisions in our beloved game have decided that an immediate "switch" in the surfaces that we run on has become necessary? What am I missing? Are we losing horseplayers because of the composition of our main tracks? Are the horses careers being shortened because of the horrendous track conditions? Have we studied this phenomenon for a decade to make this extraordinary movement a sound and prudent decision?
If they had asked me, which no one has, maybe I would be in agreement that at some tracks, because of weather conditions and such, it might be wise to consider a "synthetic option", but certainly not the entire inventory of U.S. racetracks!
I am all for improvement in our industry, but not of the "microwave" decisions being made. Why not put in a synthetic track or two, in varying climates around the country, and study the results of such an experiment? Why not let the decision for so much change, be a sound scientific one... Or does that make too much sense?
I'm afraid we are now getting to the heart of the problem. Our horses, and maybe sometimes the monetary handle, will pay a significant price until we "tweak" these brand new experimental surfaces. One thing is clear for sure -- these synthetic surfaces are not the "panacea" for horseracing's woes, as some thought they would be.
Let's move forward and make continued progress so that the industry doesn't fall too far "behind the times", but let's be prudent the next time we address any similar "conceived by some" problems.
Roger Stein... SoCal-based trainer. Roger claimed Southern Truce for $16K in 1991 and went on to win multiple G1s with the mare. He hosts 'The Roger Stein Show' a popular radio program heard each Saturday and Sunday morning (with replays archived on the internet).
Bob Ike
Handicapper
Initially, I believed the California tracks were being rushed into switching over to synthetic surfaces by CHRB mandate (which said that all major California tracks had to install a synthetic surface by the end of 2007). I didn't like the idea of a mandate--and I felt like there had not been enough research or testing of synthetic surfaces to justify this switch.
However, after very positive results at the Hollywood Park fall meet--run over Cushion Track -- I changed my opinion. The horsemen almost unanimously loved the surface. Horses stayed sounder and ran back quicker (due to less recovery time), which produced larger than average fields.
From a handicapping/gambling perspective, I had my best meet ever, which I'm sure also has a lot to do with why I'm a fan of the synthetic surfaces (at least Cushion Track). I thought the races played out fairly, with very few "bias" days. Speed did not dominate, as it often does in California, and horses actually changed positions during the race. Late runners could make up a number of lengths in the final furlong if the early pace had been too wicked. As a trip handicapper, I felt like I could envision how a race was going unfold, then let the best horse win. And that's what happened for the most part at the Hollywood fall meet.
Since we are in the infancy stage of synthetic surfaces, there were a couple of problems with maintenance. The trackman and his crew tinkered and tweaked as they went but ultimately learned that less is more. The less they did with the track, the better off they were. And isn't that why synthetic tracks were installed in the first place? Less maintenance, while keeping horses sounder. Looks like a winning exacta to me.
Bob Ike... Has covered the SoCal racing circuit for 20 years. Ike's selections have appeared in the LA Daily News, San Diego Union-Tribune, Orange County Register and South Bay Daily Breeze. Bob also co-hosts the 'Thoroughbred Los Angeles' radio show (Sat, 9am PT on 830 AM) and serves as a host for the Del Mar TV show. He recently started his own website, BobIkePicks.com.
Tom Cosgrove
Dir of Racing, Woodbine Ent Group
Racing and training was conducted on Polytrack for the final three months of the '06 season at Woodbine.
In the first six weeks, the track appeared to work well as both Horsemen and Company personnel (trackmen) adjusted to the new surface. Polytrack was exceptional in rain.
However, in the last half of that time, it underperformed as the temperature lowered. Track materials began to separate; consistency an issue.
Morning training has been held on Polytrack for the past 10 days. It's better than the dirt track at this time of year.
That said, more work will be required on Polytrack when the weather co-operates; (sometime in May). The Company has confidence in its Supplier that everything necessary will be done to resolve problems experienced at Woodbine.
Tom Cosgrove... Director of Racing, Woodbine Entertainment Group.
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